Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Team Shafire
by RukarioNoDaakuAura
Summary: A Vulpix ends up forming a exploration team with an Umbreon that has trust issues. Will the Vulpix be able to find out what happened to him and will their team be a success or a failure? Rated T for bad language and violence in future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

**This is my first fanfic. Right now all I can say is "Please review". I can't improve my writing without the feedback from you guys. If you do review or leave feedback, make sure it's constructive. Things like "This is great/bag" and "Next chapter, please" won't help me at all.**

**I won't be having any updating schedule. I have studies going on so it's going to slow things down. I'll try to update as often as I can though. Also, I won't be quitting this fanfic without letting you guys know. So, that I haven't updated in a long time doesn't mean I have quit. I don't think I'll be quitting this anyway. Hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, Game Freak does.**

Chapter 1

_'This time I'm gonna do it'_, thought the Vulpix, who stood firmly in front of the Luxray's guild. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. Then the fox Pokemon stepped forward and knocked on the door.

Few moments later the door opened. There was now a Lucario standing in front of her, waiting to hear what the Vulpix wanted.

"Hello. I'd like to join the guild.", she said, looking up at the Lucario.

The Lucario knelt down to get on the same eye level with the fox Pokemon, and asked "Do you have any exploration experience from before?"

"N-No.", She answered, little confused about the question.

"In that case, we cannot let you join.", she said, with her usual calm tone.

"What!? Why?", the Vulpix asked, now even more confused.

"Exploring alone is dangerous. For that reason you need a partner to join with you since you don't have any experience from before.", the Lucario answered and placed her hand on the Vulpix's head and smiled. "Come back when you have found a partner and we'd be more than happy to let you join."

"I see...", the fox Pokemon said looking a little disappointed. "I'll go ask if one of my friends want to join the guild with me."

"Alright, just remember that there is no need to hurry when choosing your partner.", the Lucario said as she stood up.

"Okay, I'll get going now. Bye!", the Vulpix said as she turned around and started walking back towards the Seaside Town.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Cin!"<p>

The fox Pokemon heard a familiar voice. She looked to the direction the voice came from. "Oh, hi Eon.", she answered to the Eevee that ran at her.

"Did you try to join the guild yet?", Eon asked.

"Yeah... But they said I need a partner.", Cin said still slightly disappointed about the fact that she couldn't join on her own.

"Oh. Well I'm sure you find someone who would like to join with you", Eon said trying to cheer her up.

"I hope so.", she replied.

"So, what are you going to do today? Anything special?",the Eevee asked.

"Not really. I was about to take a walk in the nearby forest.", Cin said looking at Eon curiously about why he asked.

"Alright. I won't hold you any longer then. Come see me later and we'll talk some more.", Eon said.

"Okay. I'll get going now. See ya!", The fox Pokemon said turning to the direction of the path that leads to the forest.

"See ya.", Eon replied.

* * *

><p>The Vulpix was walking along the path leading through the forest and going through different possibilities of who she would ask as her exploration partner.<p>

_'Let's see...'_, she began. _'Eon is not interested in exploration and Spark is already in an exploration team. And far away too... and...'_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the fact that it started to rain. She had walked too far in her thoughts and she can't make it back to Seaside Town in time.

Then she remembered that there was a small cave on the side of Mt. Granite which was closer than Seaside Town.

_'I hope I can make it in time.'_, she thought as see ran towards Mt. Granite as fast as she could.

Soon she saw the cave opening. She stopped immediately after she got inside the cave. The cave wasn't very deep, but the end of the cave was still dark and she didn't like it.

She laid down on the rocky floor of the cave to wait for the rain to stop.

_'I hope it doesn't rain too long.'_, she thought while looking a little concerned. It has been raining a lot lately, which obviously was not good for her since she was a fire type.

Suddenly she noticed something fly right in front of her face. She turned her head to the way the object flew. It hit a nearby tree and dispatched in a eerie mix of black electricity and a shock wave. From this she instantly knew it was a Shadow Ball. She was more scared over the fact that there was someone else in the cave than that she was almost hit by a Shadow Ball. She stood up looking at the end of the cave nervously.

"Get out...", a voice suddenly came from the end of the cave which made the fox Pokemon gasp.

"But I can't go out in the rain. I'm a fire type.", she replied slightly concerned.

"I don't care. You entered my home without permission.", the voice said. "I don't want strangers in my home, so get out."

"Please, let me stay here. I'm not yet strong enough to survive in the rain.", she began. "I won't bother you if you just let me stay until the rain stops."

There was a silence. Finally he answered, "Fine..."

"Thank you.", the fox Pokemon said. She laid back down to the cave floor and took a look outside. It was raining harder than before. She wanted to start a conversation with the Pokemon at the end of the cave, but she already promised not to bother him. She was really bored. She couldn't do anything else but to wait for the rain to stop.

* * *

><p>It was getting dark and the rain hadn't stopped yet. It looked like she had to stay until morning. And on top of that, she was hungry. She hadn't eaten anything today besides breakfast. The fox Pokemon just had to bear with it. She didn't think that the Pokemon at the end of the cave was going to give her any even if he had some.<p>

She hadn't heard anything from the end of the cave in a long time. Cin started to feel like he wasn't there anymore. Like he had sneaked past her at some point.

_'Maybe he is just sleeping...'_, she thought, just as she started hearing light footsteps. They came from the end of the cave. Cin was curious who the Pokemon was. She just looked to the darkness waiting for the Pokemon to come out of the shadows.

Soon she saw his silhouette. He was a quadrupedal Pokemon, and just slightly taller than she was. Now the fox Pokemon was even more curious. She wasn't so scared anymore knowing that the he wasn't very big. He also had long ears that were thin from both ends and bold from the middle. She had a thought on what Pokemon he could be.

Just as he stepped out of the darkness, Cin's guess was correct, he indeed was nothing but an Umbreon. He had some kind of bag around his neck and a dark blue scarf with a white crescent moon symbol on it on his head. She had never seen a scarf like that, but she assumed it was a scarf variation of Lunar Ribbon; a Lunar Scarf.

"Where are you going?", she asked just as he walked past her.

"Just going out for a while.", he began "And didn't you say your not going to bother me?"

"Sorry...", she said looking down "I couldn't help it. I'm just too curious."

The Umbreon didn't respond to this. He just kept walking out of the cave.

Later the Umbreon returned with the bag full of apples and sticks. It was already dark outside. And cold too. Cin assumed that he was going to use the sticks for a fire.

"Can I have one apple?", she asked, even though she had a feeling she wasn't going to get one. "I can do something for you in return."

The Umbreon took a while to think, but then he took one apple from the bag and placed it in front of her. While still keeping his paw on the apple, he said "If you promise me that when you leave, you won't return here."

"O-Okay...", the fox Pokemon said. She didn't know why the Umbreon wanted her to promise something like that, but she was willing to make the promise. That's how hungry she was.

The Umbreon lifted his paw off the apple and walked to the end of the cave. Cin picked up the apple and started eating it. Meanwhile the Umbreon started piling the sticks to one spot. Then he took a Blast Seed and tossed it on the pile of sticks. The seed blew up from the impact and lit up a fire. Cin was so concentrated on the apple that she got startled by the noise of the explosion. She felt a little embarrassed as it wasn't even that loud noise.

After finishing the the apple, she walked by the fire. She was unsure if the Umbreon would let her, but she tried anyway. When she got to the fire, she noticed that the Umbreon was already sleeping. She decided to do the same and laid down on the cave floor on the opposite side of the fire the Umbreon was.

Later that night she woke up feeling cold. The fire had gone out and there was no more sticks to start the fire again. There was only one thing she could do, and that was to go sleep next to the Umbreon. It was risky but she didn't have a choice. The fox Pokemon sneaked to him so he wouldn't wake up. Just as she was about to lie down next to him, she received a fairly powerful slap on the right side of her face, which made her stumbled back a bit. When she looked back up, the fox Pokemon noticed that the Umbreon was not sleeping anymore.

"What the hell do you think your doing?", he said with angry tone, almost shouting at her.

"I just wanted to sleep next to you because I was cold.", the fox Pokemon said, almost crying. The Umbreon's reaction and the slap she received made her feel pretty bad.

"I thought you were going to attack me.", the Umbreon said. "You should know that sneaking up on a sleeping Pokemon is a bad idea. If you really are so cold that you can't sleep, I guess I have no choice but to let you sleep next to me..."

The Umbreon laid back down on the floor and continued his sleep. Cin laid down next to him, once again feeling embarrassed of her actions. She closed her eyes and tried not to thing about it too much. Some time later she fell asleep too.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**I guess that's a good spot to end the chapter. So, what do you think? What you liked/disliked? What do I need to improve? I have some kind of feeling that some of the Umbreon's actions conflict with his personality, but I can't figure out what it is. Maybe it's just my imagination. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**

**Here is the second chapter. It's good to hear that the first chapter wasn't a total failure. In this chapter you'll get the answer why the Umbreon did what he did in the last chapter. Many people seemed to point that out because I left it unanswered when I ended the chapter.**

**I didn't say it in the last chapter, but the Vulpix's real name is actually 'Cinder'. I just made her a nickname. And Eon using her nickname would make more sense, since they are friends.**

**I also added a cover image. It's not a masterpiece, but it's average quality from me.**

**Disclaimer: Once again Game Freak owns Pokemon, not me.**

Chapter 2

Cin woke up when she felt a harsh nudge on her side.

"The rain has stopped.", said the Umbreon, who was already up. He was poking Cin with his paw trying to wake her up.

The fox Pokemon opened her eyes and stood up. She was about to stretch herself but before she could, the Umbreon started pushing her out of the cave.

"The sooner you get going the better.", he said, still pushing her.

"Why can't we sleep a little longer? It's barely daybreak.", she asked

"The fact that you are here makes me already uncomfortable enough.", he began. "And on top of that I had little sleep last night because you had to sleep next to me."

"Then why did you let me sleep next to you?", she asked, confused about the Umbreon's behavior.

"If you would have stayed awake the whole night, you would have been too tired to leave when the rain would have stopped.", the Umbreon said.

"Okay, I get it. I'll go.", she said. "But can you at least tell me your name?", said the fox Pokemon, who was now at the opening of the cave.

The Umbreon seemed to hesitate a bit, but he finally answered. "Kage..."

As soon as he had answered, he turned around and walked back to the cave. To Cin it looked like he wasn't interested in knowing her name. She started walking back towards Seaside Town, not sure if she should have felt bad about the fact that the Umbreon had little sleep because of her.

* * *

><p>As soon as she reached the Seaside Town, she headed towards Eon's house. Once there, the fox Pokemon knocked on the door.<p>

"Sorry, I'm late.", she said playfully while smiling as the door opened.

"It's good to see you're alright", Eon said. "I was a little worried when it started raining a while after you had gone to the forest. But anyway, come inside."

Cin nodded and walked inside closing the door after her. They both sat by a small table that had a couple of cushions around it. Then Cin started telling what happened yesterday.

"...And that's what happened.", the fox Pokemon finished.

"Hmm... I think I have heard the name 'Kage' before.", Eon said while trying to think where he had heard it. "...I just can't remember where I have heard it."

"That's fine.", she said. "By the way, have you heard of Spark lately?"

"Yeah, I got a letter from her a few days ago where she told that she was going to climb Sky Peak, which is not that far away from here, so she decided to visit the town too.", Eon said.

"When will she be here?", Cin asked.

"Today.", he answered. "I was actually supposed to tell you yesterday. If you want to see her too, you can wait here with me."

Before Cin could answer, they both heard someone knocking to the door. Eon got up and walked to the door. When he opened the door, he saw a Shinx and a Buizel standing there.

"Hi, Eon!", the Shinx said.

"Hi, Spark.", the Eevee said. "And you too Jun."

"Hey.", the Buizel answered.

"Come inside. Cin is here too.", Eon said and walked back inside Spark and Jun following him.

"Long time no see!", the fox Pokemon said smiling as they walked inside.

"Long time no see.", said Spark and Jun almost at the same time. They sat by the table where Eon and Cin had been sitting.

"So, how has it been going lately?", the Eevee asked.

"You know, the usual for us.", the Shinx said. "Well, we did manage to catch a pretty tough outlaw last week."

"He apparently had infiltrated the guild, but as soon as we saw him on the outlaw notice board we decided to take him down.", Jun added.

"He seemed like a good guy on the outside, but when he was doing jobs, he did things that were against the guild's rules and law.", Spark said.

"At the time we caught him he was working alone.", the Buizel began. "His partner disappeared a month ago in an accident during exploration."

"Was he a criminal too?", Cin asked.

"That we don't know.", the Shinx said. "Nobody at the guild knew him well. He rarely talked to the other members. His partner was the one to do all the talking for the team."

"That's why it is impossible to tell whether he was a criminal or not, and if he even knew what his partner was doing.", Jun added.

"I see.", the fox Pokemon said. "So what about Sky Peak? Isn't that kind of tough place?"

"Yes it is, but we heard that you can get a guide to help you from the village that's by the foot of Sky Peak.", Jun answered.

"There is a village by the foot of Sky Peak?", Eon asked surprised.

"Yes. Seeing the village even from air is very difficult.", Spark said. "The best way to find the village is to walk the path to the Sky Peak as the village is built by the path."

"You can also find Sky Gifts from the Sky Peak.", Jun said. "They are mysterious presents that when given to a friend will contain wonderful things. However it will be empty if the finder opens it."

The four of them kept on talking from different things until it was dark outside.

* * *

><p>"It's getting late. I probably should get back home.", Cin said as she stood up and started walking towards the door.<p>

"We will get going early in the morning, so unless you're planing to get up early you won't be seeing us in a while", Spark said.

"Okay. Good night.", the fox Pokemon said while looking back at them. "And good luck with Sky Peak."

"Thanks. And good night to you too.", the Shinx answered as the Vulpix opened the door and went outside closing it after her.

Cin has to walk through the town to get home since she and Eon lives on the opposite sides of the town. All the other services in town had already closed, except for the shop run by the two Kecleon. They were just about to close too, but before they did, Cin stopped by and bought few apples to eat before she goes to bed.

Once she got back home, she ate the apples and went to bed. Before she fell asleep, she remembered that she still had to find a partner to join the guild with her. For a moment she thought of asking Kage, but she felt like he wouldn't want to. Once again she had no idea who she would ask. She felt too tired to think about it any further, so she just started sleeping.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Even though this chapter was shorter than the first one, I felt like this would be a good point to end the chapter. I probably won't have any chapters shorter than this one, but I still try to avoid making them this short too often. Kage will have bigger part in the next chapter too. I could keep him out of the picture longer if I wanted to, but I feel like it'd get boring if I progress too slowly.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes:**

**It took me too long to finish chapter. Why does busy times in school have to be at the same time you have a difficult chapter? I really wanted to make sure there are no OoCs as there are some important events. That's why it took me some time. This chapter's events happen few days after the events of the last chapter. I took some extra time for this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Game Freak does.**

Chapter 3

Cin was taking her daily walk in the forest. She hadn't seen Kage in the past few days that had passed since they met. She didn't want to go to the cave because she promised him to not to go there. The fox Pokemon just had to rely on her luck to see him in the forest. She had a feeling that Kage wouldn't want to form exploration team with her, but she wanted to try asking anyway. He was the only one who she could ask right now.

"Hm?", she said to herself when she saw something in the corner of her eye. The fox Pokemon turned to look that way and noticed that it was Kage. At first she ran at him, but slowed down to walk when she got close enough.

"Hi.", the Vulpix said to the Umbreon as he noticed her.

"What do you want?", he asked, not seeming to be very pleased to see her.

"I wanted to ask you something.", she said. "Can you form an exploration team with me?"

"Why are you asking me?", he asked a little surprised to hear the fox Pokemon to ask something like that.

"You are the only one I haven't asked yet.", she began. "My friends are either not interested or already in another exploration team."

"And you seriously think that we would make a good team?", the Umbreon said. "We barely know each other."

"But we can get to know each other better over time.", she said.

"It doesn't work that way. You can't just form exploration team with someone you don't know and expect it to work out.", the Umbreon said. Cin, however was not convinced. To her it seemed like he was just trying to make up excuses.

"And you would throw away the chance to get to explore?", she began. "You look like you would want to explore since you wear a scarf and a bag."

"I have explored before.", he said. "However last time I explored, something happened which made me unable to explore anymore."

"I can't really see anything that would prevent you from exploring.", she said as she took a quick look at him.

"It's not physical...", the Umbreon said. "But you wouldn't understand even if I told you."

"Not physical?", the Vulpix began. "If it's psychical, then there is always the possibility to try to fix it. If there is something you enjoy doing you can't let fear and failures stop you."

She was right. Kage did enjoy exploring, but he had just avoided his fears, which made him quit exploration. He felt a faint desire. A desire that he hadn't felt in a long time. He wanted to explore.

"Fine... I'll accept your request.", the he said not sounding very confident.

"Really? Yay!", the fox Pokemon said happily.

"However, keep in mind that I might break up the team if things doesn't work out.", the Umbreon added.

"Okay, I'll do my best not to disappoint you.", the fox Pokemon said sounding very eager.

"It's not just how you do. It's also how I can get hang of exploration.", he said. "I haven't explored in a while."

"I see. Anyway, let's go sign up at the guild.", the Vulpix said and started to walk towards Seaside Town Kage following few meters behind her. He wasn't sure if he did the right decision, but he wanted to try to push aside his fears and get back on exploration. For this one last time at least.

* * *

><p>Cin and Kage arrived at the guild. The Umbreon took a quick look at the small building. To him, it looked a bit small. And on top of that, it had a second floor. He actually found the design of the guild to be pretty nice. The fox Pokemon went ahead and knocked on the door. Kage was still few meters behind the Vulpix, who was impatiently waiting for the door to open. Soon the door opened, but there was no one there. The two of them looked at each other. Kage was looking a bit nervous and uncertain at the same time. Cin nodded at him and walked inside, Kage following after her.<p>

Once they got inside, the door closed behind them. They looked around the small room. There were two bulletin boards. There was always someone by them. Kage knew that these were the job and outlaw bulletin boards. There were also two sets of stairs. The other ones went upstairs, and the other ones went downstairs.

Soon someone came up the stairs. Cin knew who it was. It was the Lucario she met before. She noticed the two of them immediately as she got up the stairs. The canine Pokemon walked to them.

"So, you found a partner for yourself.", the Lucario said while smiling. "If you are ready to join the guild, please, follow me."

Then the Lucario turned around and walked back towards the stairs. Both, Cin and Kage followed her, amazed how straightforward the canine Pokemon was. They followed her downstairs, which seemed to be much larger than what the above ground parts of the guild. The Lucario was waiting for them in front of a door.

"The Guild-master is behind this door.", The canine Pokemon said. "Go on in. He already knows you are here."

The fox Pokemon was a little confused about what the Lucario just said. Putting it aside for now, she knocked on the door and opened it. Inside, there was a Luxray lying on a blue carpet. The Luxray had a red scarf around his neck.

"Welcome.", the Luxray said as the two of them walked towards him. "You are here to join the guild, aren't you?"

"Yes.", the Vulpix answered.

"In that case, let me introduce myself first.", the Luxray started. "My name is Thunder and I am the Guild-master of this guild. The Lucario you already met is my assistant and exploration partner, Luka. Please, tell me your names."

"I'm Cinder.", the fox Pokemon said. They were both looking at the Umbreon now, who seemed to take a while to answer.

"K-Ka...ge...", he finally said quietly. Cin barely heard him despite begin next to him, but the Luxray could easily hear him as he had bigger ears than the Vulpix did.

"All right. Next you need to decide your team's name.", the Luxray said.

"Hmm... Do you have any ideas?", Cin said as she turned to the Umbreon.

"No.", the Umbreon answered still talking quietly. "I thought you already had one since this was your idea."

"I see.", The Vulpix said. She took a while to think. "How about if we combine 'shadow' and 'fire' into 'Shafire'?"

"Whatever...", Kage said.

"Our team name shall be 'Shafire'.", the fox Pokemon said as she turned to face the Luxray.

"All right then.", the Luxray said and stood up. He walked tho a chest and picked up a bag from it.

"Here is your Treasure Bag. It contains a map and some starting supplies", the he said as he walked up to them and placed the bag in front of them.

"Thank you.", the Vulpix said and opened the bag. Along with the map, there was two scarfs and Exploration Badge.

"Next, Luka will show you around the guild.", the Luxray said. Cin nodded as a respond and the two of them walked out of the room. Luka was waiting for them, leaning against the rocky wall of the underground parts of the guild.

"Alright, follow me.", the Lucario said as the two approached her. Then she started guiding them through the guild. They walked up the same stairs they came down earlier and arrived to the ground floor.

"Those bulletin boards over there have jobs and wanted posters for outlaws.", the canine Pokemon said pointing to the two bulletin boards hanged on one of the walls.

"How about the one downstairs?", Cin asked.

"That one has the guild's notices, upcoming events and such.", Luka answered. "Moving on. Upstairs has the guard post. The exploration team on guard duty will be announced during the morning briefing. The whole list is on the bulletin board downstairs. It's easier to plan ahead when you know when it's your guard duty. The updated list that has your team in it should be there by tomorrow morning. Also, the team on guard duty before you will give you a short briefing on the job so you don't need to worry about it now. Let's go back downstairs."

"Okay.", The fox Pokemon said as she nodded. The three of them walked back downstairs. They were back underground. Cin and Kage took a better look what was around them. Aside from the bulletin board and the door leading to the Guild-master's room there were two other doors and a corridor.

"That door leads to the dining hall.", the Lucario said pointing towards the left door. "Dinners are held at the same time for everybody and if you miss it due to exploration you will get your dinner later."

"The next door is infirmary.", The Lucario proceeded to explain the next door. "If you or your client gets injured you can get professional help there. Do you have any questions?"

"No.", the fox Pokemon said thinking a moment.

"Alright. Next I'll show you your room.", the canine Pokemon said and started walking towards the corridor that was between the dining hall and infirmary doors. They walked past a couple of doors until the Lucario stopped in front of one of the doors.

"This one is free.", the Lucario said quietly to herself. "Until you graduate from this guild, you'll be living in this room. You'll be starting exploration from tomorrow. If you need to do some preparations, you still have the rest of today time. If a question comes to your mind later, feel free to ask me."

"Okay, thank you.", Cin said. After this the Lucario walked away. Cin and Kage took a look at their room. It was fairly small, but just enough for two Pokemon their size to live in. There were two straw beds in the middle and a window.

"What's wrong?", the Vulpix said looking at the Umbreon who looked a bit stressed.

"N-Nothing...", he said trying to hide it, however it just made him look more stressed.

"Oh, come on. Just take it easy!", she said playfully. However, Kage was a little annoyed by that Cin was teasing him of this.

"I'm going to rest a little.", the Umbreon said as he walked to one of the straw beds pushing it further away from the other one. "If you want to be useful, make sure no one sneaks up on me."

"Okay...", she replied remembering what happened to her when she tried getting close to Kage when he was sleeping. The Guild-master probably wouldn't like it if Kage instinctively attacked someone at the guild. Just to kill some time, Cin opened the Treasure Bag and tried on one of the scarfs that was in it. She put the scarf over her neck and tied it on the front side and then turned it around so that the knot was against the back of her neck. This was the only way a quadrupedal Pokemon was able to get a scarf on since their front legs aren't flexible enough to reach the back of their neck.

Some time passed and she heard a soft bell like sound. Kage woke up to this sound. He lifted his head looking at the doorway ready to attack if necessary.

"I'll go check out what it is.", Cin said as she noticed Kage's reaction. She walked to the doorway and peeked to the corridor seeing a Chingling.

"The dinner's ready", it said with a soft and cute voice. "Everyone else is already in the dining hall."

Cin turned to look back to Kage and said. "It's the call for dinner."

"Can't we eat after everyone else has finished?", the Umbreon asked.

"Um, my partner wants to eat after everyone else. Is that okay?", the fox Pokemon asked as she turned back to the Chingling.

"Of course it is.", the bell Pokemon answered. "come to the dining hall in 20 minutes. Everyone else should be done by then."

"Okay, thanks.", the Vulpix said and went back in their room.

After the 20 minutes, Cin and Kage went to the dining hall. The Guild-master was waiting for them wanting to know why they wanted to eat after everyone else. Cin explained the situation and the Luxray seemed to understand. Then he wished them good night and went back to his room. Cin and Kage ate their dinner and went to bed since they had to wake up early.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**This is it for the third chapter. And I'm once again sorry if it took too long to update. Nothing too special aside from Cin getting Kage to form exploration team with her and joining the guild. I did my best to try keep Kage in character here, though it might be off just a little... This chapter ended up begin pretty long, but I guess that makes up that the last chapter was shorter than intended. Anyways, please, wait for the upcoming chapters patiently. I don't know if can write new chapters much faster than this. I'm still beginner at writing and it takes some time for me to actually form the text so it's readable. I sometimes even leave the chapter for a couple of days and read it through. It's a good way to find out any issues there might be. Originally that idea was thought for me in a music mixing course in school, but it works with pretty much any art type the same way.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:**

**I tried to pay more attention to how I write the sentences this time. I was told that they are a little weird sometimes.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon**

Chapter 4

Cin and Kage woke up to a bell-like sound that was coming from the hallway. Kage immediately put on his "defense mode" staring at the doorway. Then he remembered that he had heard the sound before. It was the Chingling who was waking others up.

"Shouldn't we get going?", the Umbreon said to the Vulpix who was rubbing the sleep off her eyes. The fox Pokemon just nodded to him. Kage picked up the treasure bag and the two of them walked off the room.

Everyone had gathered in front of the Guild-master's room waiting for the morning briefing to begin. The two of them walked to the back of the crowd. Kage took the usual few meter distance from others. Cin was unsure if she should go further back with Kage as his partner or not.

"Everyone seems to be here now.", Thunder said. "Today Team Hagane will be on guard duty. As always, do your best and don't forget your limits."

With that said, everyone went upstairs. The briefing was short because there was nothing important to announce. Cin and Kage followed followed others up to the ground floor. Only a Skarmory and a Mawile went on the second floor. Cin assumed they were the Team Hagane. They went to the job bulletin board to look for a job. Kage found a suitable job pretty quickly.

"This should be easy enough for us.", the Umbreon said and pulled the job post off the bulletin board and handed it to Cin. "Someone lost a Max Elixir in the nearby forest."

Cin took a look at the job post. At the top there was the clients information and the guild's estimation on the difficulty of the job. Next there was a brief explanation on what happened. At the end there was the reward promised from the job. The client seemed to be a Marill. It's understandable why he wouldn't want to go to the forest to look for the lost item on his own.

"Okay. Let's go.", the fox Pokemon said.

"Wasn't there a town nearby. We should go buy some supplies.", Kage said as they walked out of the guild.

"Yeah, Seaside Town is just few hundred meters away from the guild.", she replied. "We need to turn left from the crossroads ahead."

* * *

><p>Once they reached the Seaside Town they walked to the shop held by the two Kecleon. Kage took a look around to see what other services were available. It was pretty much the same as in most towns. Shop, storage, bank, café and a move linking.<p>

"It'd probably be best that I do the shopping. What supplies should we buy?", the Vulpix asked.

"Apples, Oran Berries, Max Elixirs and an Escape Orb. At least two of each except for the Escape Orb.", he answered. Kage stopped before the shop waiting for Cin to buy the supplies. He was looking around him because he was cautious. No one seemed to pay attention to him, but he still didn't want to put his guard down.

"Okay, I got the supplies.", the fox Pokemon said as she walked to the Umbreon. He was waiting for the Vulpix to put the supplies to the treasure bag he had around his neck.

"There.", she said closing the treasure bag. She took a step back and looked at Kage. "Hm? Did you just...?"

"No!", the Umbreon said looking away. "Let's just go already..."

"O-Okay.", the Vulpix said and they started walking towards the forest. Cin thought that she saw a faint blush on his face for a moment. She was standing very close to him, but she didn't notice any kind of physical contact. She wondered if he blushed when she was sleeping next to him.

"Okay, we're here...", the Umbreon said once they arrived to the entrance of the forest.

"Huh?", the fox Pokemon said. She was in her own thoughts and didn't notice that they had arrived to the entrance of the forest. Kage was looking at Cin with a 'seriously?' expression on his face.

"Try to pay a little more attention to what's happening around you. If you keep spacing out like that you'll get easily ambushed.", he said.

"Sorry...", the Vulpix apologized. "Let's go!"

* * *

><p>Inside the forest, both Cin and Kage were looking around trying to spot the Max Elixir. They had no luck so far, but they kept their eyes open just in case. They were still heading towards the place where the client had reported they had lost the item.<p>

"Stay on guard in case of hostile Pokemon.", Kage said.

"Aren't the residents of this forest peaceful?", the Fox Pokemon asked.

"Most of them are.", he started. "It is normal begin targeted more often when you are in an exploration team."

"What would they want from explorers?", she asked.

"Mostly money and items.", the Umbreon said. As soon as he said this, they were attacked. Kage barely dodged the attacker.

"A Beedril!", Cin said in a surprise.

"It's no surprise that it targeted me first.", Kage said. "Let's take care of it and keep going."

"Right!", she replied. As soon as she said this, the Beedril attacked again. This time it charged towards Cin. She attempted to fire Ember at the Beedril, but it dodged it. It was too fast to be attacked directly.

"Let's try this then...", she said to herself and charged towards the Beedril. When the fox Pokemon was right in front of the Beedril, she vanished leaving the bee Pokemon to look around confused. Soon it received a hit in it's back. The Beedril stumbled to the ground. Faint Attack never fails; It gets the opponent by surprise!

"My turn!", the Umbreon said running towards the fallen bee Pokemon who was about to get up. Kage's tail started to glow white. Few meters away from the Beedril, he did a somersault and slammed his Iron Tail on the Beedril.

"Let's keep going.", the Umbreon said after making sure that the Beedril wasn't going to get up anymore. The Vulpix nodded to this and they kept walking deeper in the forest.

* * *

><p>"This should be it.", Kage said as they arrived to a small clearing.<p>

"So, our client lost the Max Elixir around here?", Cin asked.

"Yes.", he answered. "Let's look around."

The two of them started searching the area around the clearing for the lost Max Elixir. They searched for quiet a while until Cin found it.

"Kage! I found it!", she shouted to the Umbreon to get his attention. He ran over to the Vulpix who was standing in front of a thorny bush. "I'll burn the bush so we can get the Max Elixir."

"Wait!", Kage said. "There are too many flammable plants around. You'll just set the whole forest on fire."

"Then how are we going to get it?", she asked.

"I'll just lift one of these branches and you'll go and get it.", he answered and carefully lifted one of the branches. "The opening is just big enough for you."

"Just make sure the branch doesn't slip from your paw.", she said and crawled under the bush carefully and reaching her paw out trying to grab the Max Elixir.

"Got it!", she said as she got a hold of the Max Elixir. She crawled off under the bush and stood up. Cin was about to put the Max Elixir in the Treasure Bag, but before she could, Kage took it from her paw and did it himself.

"Let's go.", the Umbreon said. The Vulpix nodded to this and the two of them started heading back to the guild. Cin was a little surprised of her actions. He did let her put stuff in the Treasure Bag before. She didn't have much time to thing about it more because she still had to be on the look out for hostile Pokemon.

* * *

><p>After returning to the guild, Cin and Kage returned the lost item to the client. Then they stored the reward money to the bank and decided how to spend the rest of the day. Kage went to take a walk while Cin returned to the guild. She chatted with the other guild members until the dinner was ready. She didn't see the Umbreon in the guild so she went to look for him. She went to check the beach first because it was the easiest place to check.<p>

"There you are!", the Vulpix said as she spotted the Umbreon. He was just sitting there looking at the sunset.

"What are you doing?", she asked and sat next to him.

"I just needed some time to think about few things.", he answered. "You really are making me feel uncomfortable, you know."

"Can't you even trust me this much? I'm your partner so you should get used to having me close to you.", she replied. "Well, whatever. The dinner is ready so we should head back to the guild."

The Umbreon nodded to this and the two of them started heading back to the guild.

**I guess that's it for this chapter. I'm kind of ashamed of how long it took me to finish this chapter. I've had a lot of exams and stuff so I guess that's to be expected.**


End file.
